1. Field
The present disclosure relates to optical communication equipment and, more specifically but not exclusively, to optoelectronic circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
The next-generation of optical communication systems is being designed for relatively high data rates, e.g., higher than about 100 Gbit/s per channel. At these rates, the effects of bandwidth limitations of various components of the transmitter, fiber-optic channel, and/or receiver may significantly degrade the performance of optical transport links. One approach to dealing with these effects is to perform appropriate signal processing, e.g., signal equalization in the electrical digital domain, after the corresponding optical signal has been photo-detected and digitized at the receiver. This electrical digital-signal processing is typically implemented using a customized ASIC or DSP, which can be relatively expensive to design and/or make.